


Dawn of the Galaxy

by for_t2



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/F, Falling In Love, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Kylo Ren Has Issues, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Stormtrooper Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: Kylo Ren and the First Order on the warpath, rebellions sparking across the galaxy, it's time for the new generation of heroes to write their own stories
Relationships: Jessika Pava/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Dawn of the Galaxy

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it'd be fun to take the basic skeleton of TROS' opening and rewrite it to something hopefully a little more coherent

**EPISODE IX**

**DAWN OF THE GALAXY**

**The dead speak! Luke Skywalker’s heroic sacrifice has been heard around the galaxy, sparking rebellions against the tyrannical First Order across hundreds of worlds.**

**Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, isolated and insecure on his throne, races to crush opposition to his reign in an increasingly merciless and genocidal campaign.**

**Meanwhile, General Leia Organa’s Resistance gathers intelligence in hopes of winning one last battle against the forces of evil, and Rey, last student of the Jedi, struggles to find balance in the Force and in herself…**

For the longest second, the world stood still.

For the longest moment, the world held its breath. 

It only took a second for the Steadfast, flagship of the First Order Navy, to drop out of hyperspace above Felucia. Only a second for three other star destroyers to follow. Only a second to power weapons. 

A second to unleash hell. 

*

“Another day, another victory.” 

General Hux almost wished he had a chair to lean back in. A comfy chair. A chair where he could put his arms up above his head and close his eyes, enjoying his own symphony of destruction, a handful of stormtroopers standing guard with drinks and massages and just generally getting rid of the annoyances in life. 

“You rolled your eyes.” 

“If you say so, sir,” General Pryde replied. 

Hux wasn’t a fan of the older general – too stuffy, too monotone, and so deadly serious about his utter lack of ambition. “If you say so, sir,” Hux muttered under his breath. Mocking Pryde had quickly become a favourite pastime of his. “Enjoy life a little.” 

“The Supreme Leader demands that we finish this quickly.” 

Hux knew that Pryde was supposed to be some wise old veteran from the days of the Empire, loyal and devoted follower of Lords Palpatine and Vader, but Hux just couldn’t find it in himself to care. The Empire was dead. The Empire lost. The First Order, however, was alive and kicking rebel ass. And most importantly, the First Order was Hux’s – he built it and commanded it. This was his victory. “Then the Supreme Leader should do it himself.” 

“The Supreme Leader has other concerns.” 

Hux laughed out loud at that. “Leave Ren to his obsessions.” He really couldn’t care less. “We’ve got a galaxy to deal with.”

*

For all the generals’ plans, the invasion of Felucia was longer and harsher than they expected. 

The rebellion groups fought to the very end, the endless forests of plant life were so easy to get lost in, and the piles of dead stormtroopers just kept growing. 

But still they marched. 

Still they conquered. 

*

Kylo Ren finally forced himself to stop. To breath.

His knights were out destroying the last remains of the ancient Jedi ruins on Dallenor, destroying everyone on the planet who knew of the ruins, who had heard of them. As much as the adrenaline, the power of the Dark Side was still coursing through him, making every cell in his body burn with the need to move, to act, he knew that he had bigger concerns. 

If the galaxy was to be remade, if the galaxy was to be his, to be theirs, he needed to show her that he could. That there was no other option. 

So he stopped, among the burning trees and scorched ground. So he breathed. Turned his mind inwards, sinking into the flow of the Force.

And he reached out.

*

Harmony is delicate. 

Floating in the air, rocks around her, Rey let the Force flow through her, searching for that note of resonance. A note that, no matter how many times she re-read the few Jedi texts, no matter how many times she listened to Master Leia, no matter how many different things she tried, she couldn’t find. 

“Come on!” 

Every time, it finished the same way – her crashing to the ground and making a mess. 

“I can’t do this.” 

“Sure you can.” Leia flipped through another hologram, watching Rey out of the corner of her eye. “Just use the Force.” 

“That’s really helpful.” Rey couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. She could manipulate it just fine, could use it, could feel with it. She could feel the peace, the serenity, whatever you want to call it, but deep down, there was a ripple. A knot. Several knots. And always, the pull of the Dark Side, just waiting for her. 

“Some things can’t be taught, Rey.” Leia turned her full attention towards her apprentice. “You just know them when you see them.” 

“How did the Jedi do it?”

Leia got that same look she did whenever she thought back to the past, to a long-gone family on a long-gone, scraps of stories passed down from an adopted father who lived through the Republic, through Order 66. “They didn’t.” 

*

“Pass me the wrench.” 

The wrench didn’t come. 

“Pass me the…” 

Jess poked her head out from under her X-wing to find the droid she had enlisted into helping her vanished. Along with her wrench. 

“Great.” 

She slumped back down on the ground, staring up into the machinery. The last few months had been a rush of mission after mission after mission, and as much as the pilots tried to keep their ships in top condition, they found themselves having to make do more often than not. And it drove Jess nuts – she likes her X-wing the way she likes it, and not any other way. 

It also made each mission more dangerous than the last, especially as the First Order ramped up their use of scorched earth tactics, especially with each experienced pilot that dropped out of the sky. Jess made sure she remembered every single plasma mark on her hull, every single hole in the metal. 

Maybe it was just ritual, maybe it was pointless, but maybe it would help her make sure she came back. 

After all, she had a reason to come back, even if-- 

The sound of the alarm interrupted her thoughts. 

*

The mission had gone so well.

They had made the drop-offs, smuggled a few supplies, and had picked up the intelligence they needed, all without a hitch. Or, at least, they did the first few bits without a hitch. The intelligence pick-up, however, maybe a slight hitch. 

A small, tiny hitch in the form of a handful of First Order Tie fighters. 

“Poe!” 

“Finn!” 

The cockpit of the Millenium Falcon did not have good acoustics, as Chewie had complained to Rose once in the middle of a drawn-out chess match (Rose lost), and, at the moment, everyone’s shouting just kinda mixed together. 

It wasn’t helping Poe’s concentration. And the fighters shooting at them didn’t help either, as he tried to evade them, dipping and diving through the industrial asteroid facility. 

“Okay, okay!” He tried to shout louder than the other three. “I’ve got a plan! Rose, keep an eye on the engines, Chewie, man the blasters.” 

“What do I do?” Finn looked around the cockpit, lost in the sea of buttons and switches. 

“Ever heard of lightspeed skipping?”

“What?” 

Poe winked at him. “Hold on tight.” 

*

Poe learned an important lesson that day. 

Lightspeed skipping had always sounded fun. A little dangerous maybe, but fast, exciting, fun. When the TIE fighters were gaining on them, he decided that it was the perfect time to try something he’d always wanted to do. 

It was not fun. 

It was fucking terrifying. 

And he’s not entirely sure how they made it out in one piece (more or less). Even less sure how the stupid TIE fighters also made it out in one piece. 

He had never been happier to be greeted by a squadron of X-Wings. 

*

Kylo Ren was not in the mood to be interrupted. 

There was only one person he wanted to talk to now. One person in all the galaxy, bonded by the Force, bonded together. And he couldn’t find her. 

“This better be important.” 

“We have another sighting, my lord,” Pryde’s voice crackled through the hologram. “Our fighters intercepted the Falcon in the Kystoine system.” 

“Was she there?” 

“It slipped away.” Kylo knew that Pryde was always straightforward. It was a useful quality for survival under the Empire, and still was. “We made a dozen arrests on the station. We’re extracting information from the moles now, sir.” 

“Do it quickly.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

The moment the hologram faded, Kylo crushed the transmitter in his gloves. It wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t enough, and it was all he had. Even the smart apparatchiks like Pryde couldn’t grasp true power. 

He needed more.

*

“And next, there’s the matter of the Corellia—” 

“No.” 

Pryde looked up from the star charts. 

“No,” Hux shrugged. “Geonosis.” 

“The insurgency on Geonsis is under control,” Pryde replied as cooly as he could.

“You don’t get it, General.” Hux stood up, stretched, and marched around the table, unsubtly bumping Pryde out of the way. “It’s not the core worlds we need to be afraid of.” 

“A rebellion on a core world is unacceptable.” 

“Let them burn their own planet to the ground, I don’t care.” Pryde focused too much on tactics, troop movements and supply lines and all that shit. He didn’t have the mind for the bigger picture. “They’re not afraid of us. They’re afraid of the Outer Rim. The smugglers and the criminals and the scum of the galaxy.” 

“Our resources—” 

“Are best served on Geonosis.” Hux decided to push things just towards the edge. “That’s an order.” 

The two stared each other down. 

“Geonosis it is.” 

*

“Finn!” Rey smiled wide at the sight of the Falcon returning to base. Rushed to greet them. “How did it go?” 

“You should’ve seen Poe!” Finn eyes were wide in pure excitement. “Have you ever been lightspeed skipping?” 

“What?” 

“It. Is. Awesome!” Finn practically skipped away. “And the mission went awesome!” 

Poe, his usually pristine hair almost bedraggled, tromped after him. “Please don’t tell me the General’s waiting.” 

“Good luck!” Rey gave him the thumbs up.

“Fuck me.” 

Rey was halfway through giggling at the sight of him muttering under his breath as he followed Finn when she spotted the X-wing escorts landing. When she spotted Jess climb out of her holier-than-usual ship, blood tricking down her face. 

*

“Thank you for this.” 

“Just doing my job, General,” Poe replied, trying to get his hair back into a slightly more presentable position. 

“If I’m right, this…” 

Poe rushed to help Leia as she stumbled. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m afraid I’m getting old.” Leia made her way over to a bench and sat down. “I’ve spent too much time at war.” 

“We’re almost done, General.” Poe took a seat next to her. “We’ve almost brought peace.” 

“If only it was that easy,” she chuckled. “The people of this galaxy have seen a corrupt republic, a tyrannical empire, a failed new republic, and an even more tyrannical new empire.” It was lot for a single lifetime, especially coming after 1000 years of peace. “And all these rebellions, we can help them, but we can’t control them.” 

“I hope you’re not saying it’s impossible.” 

“I’m saying we’re going to need to try something new. And the people like us – the warriors, the generals – our place won’t be to lead anymore.” 

For a moment, Poe was silent, mulling it over. “Then who?” 

“Well, isn’t that the question?” Leia groaned at the sight and sound of people calling for her, with more reports and suggestions, more calls to arms. She took another moment to rest before getting up. “Your boyfriend’s working on an idea which I quite like. You should go with him.”

“My what now?” Is it bad that Poe immediately thought of Finn? It’s bad, isn’t it? (In a good way). But they’re not… Not that Poe would object, but… Boyfriend. The word has a nice ring to it. 

“Just remember, democracy lives when we hold each other’s hands.” 

*

“Hey!” 

Finn sprinted to catch up with the deceptively quick droid. 

“Hey, Threepio!” 

C3PO turned around to find Finn almost right up in his face. “Oh, hello there.” 

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Most certainly, master Finn. I am programmed with over—”

“You’re an ambassador droid, right?” It wasn’t that Finn didn’t appreciate Threepio’s daily recitation of his talents, it’s just that he’s heard it before and he knows it by heart. 

“Absolutely.” It didn’t help that Threepio got inordinately proud at every daily recitation. “I am fluent in over—”

“Theoretically, if there was a…” Finn was very much still in the hypothetical phase. “A negotiation, how would you convince someone to agree with your side?” 

“I’m afraid my programming deals with diplomatic protocol, master Finn. Not…” And the way Threepio whispered the next part in horror almost made Finn laugh. “Ruthless politicking.” 

“Oh.” 

“But, I have been able to observe hundreds of meetings of…” 

“Ruthless politicking?” Finn suggested.

“Indeed.” If droids could smile, Finn got the impression Threepio would have done so then. “Perhaps I can offer a few tips.”

*

As far as Hux was concerned, Step 1 was a roaring success. 

The Navy High Command had almost unanimously backed his plans to bring the galaxy under the First Order’s heel. Even Pryde, forgotten by his beloved Supreme Leader, had acquiesced, if, Hux suspected, only temporarily. 

And now that Pryde and his cohort were snoring away in their quarters, well, there was a reason why Hux always took the night shifts. 

*

“Three minutes!”

TZ-1719 had always considered herself a loyal stormtrooper. Serving the First Order was the only thing she could ever remember, and she was proud to say she did it well. Even the weary brutality of years of war, of her brothers and sisters in-arms screaming to their deaths, barely made her waver. 

She was a loyal stormtrooper, now and forever. 

So when the call came in, interrupting her squad’s short break as they marched across the plains of Naboo, she didn’t hesitate.

“Execute Order 66.” 

The signal for Hux’s hologram came through five-by-five, but as much as TZ-1719 thought through her training, the words didn’t make sense. “I’m afraid I don’t know that order, sir.” 

“Typical.” Even Hux’s exasperated sigh barely made her question her position. “You stormtroopers are all the same. Grunts with no sense of history, of culture, of—”

“Sir?” She wouldn’t usually interrupt a superior, but their orders at the beginning of this counter-insurgency were pretty clear on the timescale. 

“What I mean is,” He paused for dramatic effect, because being ruler of the galaxy requires a certain panache. “Begin Operation Alderaan.”

*

“Rey, not that I don’t appreciate hanging out with you, but I think I really do need to see the doc.” 

“Do you trust me?” 

Jess couldn’t stop herself from frowning (even if it hurt a little). The moment she had stepped off her X-Wing, Rey grabbed her and dragged her out into the forest, and it still felt like it was bleeding, and being around Rey makes her slightly more jittery than she cares to admit, and… “Of course.” And she really likes hanging out with Rey. 

“Can I try something?”

“Yeah?” Jess might’ve imagined using that as a pickup line. Among other things. But she was imagining it being the other way round, and a bit less bloody.

Still, when Rey leaned in close, eyes shut, Jess shivered. And when Rey traced her fingers along her head, Jess subconsciously leaned in, her eyes slipping shut as well. 

Somehow, she didn’t flinch. It didn’t hurt, instead it… 

“Damn it!” 

“Rey?” Jess’s hand flew to her wound, the piece of shrapnel gone, and the skin half-healed. It didn’t just hurt less, Jess almost thought she felt something… connected, in a way that she’s never felt before, doesn’t know how to begin to explain. “How did you—”

The burst of pain that followed was enough to make Jess woozy. And the feeling of the wound re-opening, more than enough to make her pass out.

*

Kylo Ren decided that he hated rain.

It was cold and wet and it slithered through everything. It was nothing like the fire of the Dark Side, provided none of the clarity, and the way it shaped worlds to its form was just far, far too slow. 

In short, Kylo Ren hated Kamino. And he hated it not just because of the endless rain, he hated it because, even if its cloning facilities had long been shut down, the memories hadn’t, the secrets of the past still lived here. There was a certain poetry, he thought, to the way those secrets would die here, washed away in the rain. 

Standing before the great halls where the Republic’s grand army was once born, as his knights were off fulfilling their duty, he found it. A piece to his puzzle. And he knew exactly where to go with it.

He shut his eyes once more and reached out into the Force. 

*

The noise of the meeting was giving Leia a headache. 

She always appreciated a good argument, especially since she always won, but sometimes, being the general of the Resistance felt like herding hormonal cats. Especially since the debate would inevitably turn towards her, her word, her decision on who send to their deaths next. 

But for now, they hadn’t reached that point yet. So she let herself sigh (quietly enough not to attract attention) and shut her eyes. 

Just to snap them back open. The Force had… She didn’t recognise the architecture, but she did recognise the person in front of her. 

“Ben.” 

“Hello, mother.” 


End file.
